Molly Shanon, Josh Gad et al Among Guest Stars in Upcoming ABC Holiday Comedies

ABC comedies will celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with an array of guest stars including Marsha Mason, Molly Shannon, Jerry Van Dyke, Norm Macdonald ("The Middle,"), Jay Mohr ("Suburgatory), Josh Gad ("Modern Family").

ABC's comedy families celebrate Thanksgiving with great guest stars and Turkey Day mishaps galore:

Wednesday, November 23

"The Middle" -- "Thanksgiving III" (8:00-8:30 p.m., ET) - Frankie's parents, Pat (Marsha Mason) and Tag (Jerry Van Dyke), invite the Hecks to spend a few days at their house to celebrate Thanksgiving together. But the festivities begin to fall apart quickly when Frankie's sister, Janet (Molly Shannon), and her family also join in, and soon the siblings are at each other's throats over their widely differing parenting techniques. Meanwhile, Mike tries to offer some advice to Axl on how to pick up girls when he witnesses his son trying to impress a pretty mini-mart cashier - and failing miserably; Brick attempts to prove his innocence when he is accused by Janet of damaging her daughter's expensive toy; and Sue is stoked when Frankie, Pat and Janet invite her to take part in their gossip sessions. "The Middle" stars Patricia Heaton as Frankie, Neil Flynn as Mike, Charlie McDermott as Axl, Eden Sher as Sue and Atticus Shaffer as Brick. Guest starring are Marsha Mason as Pat Spence, Jerry Van Dyke as Tag Spence, Molly Shannon as Janet, Marlowe Peyton as Lucy and Gabrielle Christian as cashier.

"Suburgatory" -- "Thanksgiving" (8:30-9:00 p.m., ET) - Depressed that she has to spend Thanksgiving in the suburbs, Tessa convinces Dallas to take her to the city for a girls' day out. During their fun day, they run across George making out with a woman while he was supposed to be "working." Angry with George for lying to her, Tessa confronts him during the Royces' Thanksgiving dinner. Meanwhile Lisa refuses to wear a special dress Sheila picked out for her, so Sheila decides to literally turn up the heat. "Suburgatory" stars Jeremy Sisto as George Altman, Jane Levy as Tessa Altman, Cheryl Hines as Dallas Royce, Alan Tudyk as Noah Werner, Carly Chaikin as Dalia Royce, Allie Grant as Lisa Shay and Rex Lee as Mr. Wolfe. "Thanksgiving" guest stars Ana Gasteyer as Sheila Shay, Parker Young as Ryan Shay, Jay Mohr as Steven Royce, Chris Parnell as Fred Shay, Dan Sachoff as Gary Shay, Jeremy Howard as Jasper, Courtney Merritt as Jenna Werner, Gillian Vigman as Jill Werner, Gloria Votsis as Zoe, Madison Carlon as Bellah Crawford as Shay niece No. 1, Madeleine Claire as Shay niece No. 2, Evan Arnold as Chef Alan, Mo Collins as Trish Shay and Bambadjan Bamba as street vendor.

"Modern Family" --"Punkin Chunkin" (9:00-9:31 p.m., ET) - When an old neighborhood kid returns to town as a hugely successful internet billionaire (Josh Gad, "Book of Mormon," as Kenneth), it gets Phil thinking of what might have been. Jay feels Manny could use a little dose of constructive criticism, and Cameron is offended when Mitchell questions the authenticity of his colorful childhood stories. It all comes to a head at Thanksgiving with the family is divided between the "Dreamers" and the "Pritchetts" -- and nothing settles the score like a punkin chunkin challenge. "Modern Family" stars Ed O'Neill as Jay, Julie Bowen as Claire, Ty Burrell as Phil, Sofia Vergara as Gloria, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell, Eric Stonestreet as Cameron, Sarah Hyland as Haley, Nolan Gould as Luke, Ariel Winter as Alex, Rico Rodriguez as Manny and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons as Lily. Guest cast for "Punkin Chunkin" includes Josh Gad as Kenneth, Gretchen Morgan as Natalie and Aaron Krebs as Andy.

Thursday, November 24

"The Middle" -- "Thanksgiving II" (9:00-9:30 p.m., ET; OAD 11/24/10) - Mike begrudgingly invites his brother, Rusty (Norm MacDonald), who is temporarily living in a tent, and his father, Big Mike, who has recently broken his hip, to join him for the annual Heck family Thanksgiving. But when Frankie observes the macho Heck men's non-communicative nature, she encourages a not-so-receptive Mike to engage them in a real conversation and express their feelings. Meanwhile, Brick is ecstatic when he discovers that Bob is bringing his girlfriend, Linda - the local librarian who loves books as much as Brick does - to Thanksgiving; and Sue wants to start a mother-daughter tradition of baking a pie for the holiday, but ends up getting more sliced up than the crust. "The Middle" stars Patricia Heaton as Frankie, Neil Flynn as Mike, Charlie McDermott as Axl, Eden Sher as Sue, Atticus Shaffer as Brick and Chris Kattan as Bob. Guest starring are John Cullum as Big Mike, Norm MacDonald as Rusty, Laura Heisler as Lisa, Jeanette Miller as Aunt Edie, Frances Bay as Aunt Ginny and Mike Muscat as mailman.

 

 

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